97 Thunderbird

JoshParsons84

Took me sometime out of car audio but now I wanna do a truly awesome stereo. I'm doing this piece by piece so I at least have an opportunity to learn along the way, even if I really don't.*As stated in title my car of choice is a 97 Thunderbird 4.6. I currently have an Alpine CDA-9831 and a set of Boston Pro 50 SE. Mids are mounted in factory 6x8 holes with brackets, tweets are surface mounted at top of A pillars. Xovers are set as Comp with tweet attentuation -4

Deck settings:
HPF - off
EQ 1 -2 2 40hz
EQ 2 -4 1 200hz
EQ 3 -3 1 500hzEQ 4 0 1(fixed) 10kHz

It sounds pretty good to me. I feel something along the way of my last Boston system just everything was hooked up totally wrong cuz my comps this time ran off deck sound a hell of a lot different than last time. Now...the tweets are sooo loud sometimes to the point where I have to turn my radio down but I like it like that**Having said that my mids still lack a lil bass. What could I adjust in my EQ to get just a lil bit more?

arun1963

1. Are your doors sealed?

2. To get good low end from the MB drivers you're going to need more power than what a hu puts out. Hence an amp.

pentoncm

Band 1 (90Hz) -1db or -2db
Band 2 (150Hz) try -2db to -4db
Band 3 (4kHz or 6kHz) try a range of -2db to -4db to start
Band 4 (12.5kHz) try -2db to -4db to start

Are you using TA?

JoshParsons84

Arun:
I know I need an amp, but at this point I'm torn between a Boston GT-2200 (200 x 2) or an Alpine PDX-4.150 and bi-amp. Still have no idea why subs or sub amp either. Also dunno what next step I should take. Its gonna be done right and not hurried.

Pentoncm:
90hz and 150hz range sounded pretty good but 4kHz and 6kHz got turned down to 1kHz and still playing with 700hz I can't tell a difference between 10.0kHz 12.5kHz and 15.0kHz so its at 10.0khz. Ideas on q curve for each?

JoshParsons84

Hey Arun I'd really appreciate some feedback. That'd be great if Mac could chime in also. I'm in need of some ideas of what step next to take next.

pentoncm

I would use somewhat shallow Q's because you don't have many bands. So try Q of 1, 1.5, or 2 for each and just play around with it.

Amp wise you I would recommend the Alpine MRX series for bass. Great bang for your buck. Other than Alpine, Arc Audio makes some great amps, JL, MTX, Polk. If I were you, I would try to budget on the amps and spend the extra on a processor like the bit Ten.

JoshParsons84

http://cheaprstore.com/store/mobile-electronics/alpine-2-channel-digital-car-amplifier-pdx-2150-pdx2150-1704000921047865/

Thinking bout this. What do u think?

pentoncm

I don't think that is an authorized retailer. Here are a couple of options from cartoys which is authorized but has really good prices.

http://www.cartoys.com/products/product.cfm/JL%20Audio/JL-Audio-360-4-Car-Amplifier-4-Channel

http://cartoys.com/products/product.cfm/Alpine/Alpine-MRX-F30-4-Channel-Car-Amplifier


Definitely Bi amp - so get a 4 channel.

6.5 inch mids would be a better option down the road too :cheesygrin:

JoshParsons84

I have factory 6x8 holes. Could i make 6.5 mids fit? If so I'd rather have bigger mids neways

pentoncm

Check out crutchfield car advisor, that will let you know.

JoshParsons84

Checked Crutchfield and 6.5 mids fit. Thinking I've got my stereo planned. Just hear me out before u judge. My local audio shop has a Boston GT2125 125 x 2 and they've got layaway with no time limit. Talked the guy down from $320 to $250. Then seen they have 2 Boston G3 12s in a ported box and (I think) Boston 600 Watt 2 channel all for $920 and pretty sure I can talk him down in that also.

They key thing that I have to remember is there's no time limit layaway. That's worth it to me. All in all I think with a good install this will be a great start for me.

Now....what's everybody think?

pentoncm

Alpine MRX50 $157 = 500W
Polk SR12 sub $350 ( much better than G3 subs)
Alpine MRXF30 4 channel $157 = 50W x4

Bit Ten = $400 or alternatively get the new Pioneer p80 deck for $350

Total = $1064 (Without processor = $664)


Now evaluating the shop's offer
Considering the subs, you can get two G3 subs from crutchfield for $300, 500W Boston amp for $174 so that deal is a huge rip off. I would highly recommend a sealed box, not ported.

JoshParsons84

I knew I was gonna get criticism on this deal. I don't much wanna take it myself. However its layaway with no time limit and I simply can't afford to shell out money all at one time for car stereo being a single dad. So in the end while ill be paying a lil more at least this way it wont be all at once.

pentoncm

what about upgrading piece by piece? You could make it work then.

Are you installing yourself?

pentoncm

Honestly, a processor or an awesome HU like the Pioneer 80prs is going to go much farther than speaker X vs. speaker Y. Also, you could put in an Audison Voce amp ($1200) and you wouldn't get much better sound than a cheap Alpine amp or Boston amp. Why? All amps sound the same tonally. while there are differences with noise and channel separation these factors should be on the bottom of your list. This is because the big issue in car audio is reflections and poor speaker placement. If you upgrade your equipment or even your speakers, it won't help the fact that your speakers are mounted off axis by your feet, and door speakers have big path length distance issues degrading stereo imaging. Some people like to upgrade to Hertz Mille components for $1000, not EQ their car, and expect awesome sound just cause they paid that much money. It just doesn't work that way. Mac has spoken of somebody who won a car audio competition with a pair of $100 speakers or something because they were so good at tuning. I believe it is 30% equipment, 70% EQ and tuning.

I would recommend instead of putting everything on layaway, buying each piece as you can because you'll end up with a better system in the end. You could actually start by getting the pioneer 80prs so you can start tuning. You could start out by removing your passive crossovers and use the active network and power from the deck for now to drive your front components. Passive crossovers eat up 30% (some claim up to 50%) of the amp power before it gets to your speakers. Then by running your woofers and tweeters active off of their own channels they would both get more power, 18w to mids, 18w to tweeters. So with the combination of separate channels and going active you would get increased SQ and volume without an amp for now.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_13080PRS/Pioneer-DEH-80PRS.html?tp=5684

BeefJerky

pentoncm wrote: »

what about upgrading piece by piece? You could make it work then.

Are you installing yourself?

Or simply put some extra money aside in a box or another bank account each pay period until you save enough. I'm sure you can handle saving money rather than having someone else hold onto it for you.

JoshParsons84

Pentoncm thank u for taking the time to explain all that to me which makes complete and sunk in. However, I've already put a Boston GT 2125 on layaway. But after I get it out I could save back for the P80

pentoncm

Glad I could help out. That amp is actually really nice and it is versatile. You can use it to power your components for now. Or down the line if you get the 80prs you will probably want to go active on the front stage so you would need a 4 channel. So you could use this Boston amp as your sub amp (600W that it has for mono channel will be plenty of power for a sub).

pentoncm

Hey did you know that the Boston 2125 is only $199 on the boston website?

JoshParsons84

Yeah I know. But...if I back out if the deal now ill lose the 30 bucks I've put down on it.

JoshParsons84

Hey! I found my old sealed box for my blowed up SPG. So now my goal is to get this amp out of layaway, shell out 300 bucks for a brand new 2ohm SPG. Then been looking at a Boston GT-2300 into a Mono load. After its all said and done get the P80

pentoncm

Sounds like a plan. Are you still considering taking your front stage active? Regardless, getting a 16 band EQ with L/R independence, TA, and better crossovers will make a huge difference.

JoshParsons84

Dunno bout active..get it all hooked up then go from there. In continuation with my goal. Been thinking...would it be possible to hook my Boston GT 2125 (125 x 2) to mids only and then hook a Boston GT 275 (75 x 2) to tweets? Then of course the the GT 2300 into a mono for 1,400 going to the SPG? If so would that be too much power? What would the SQ be like? Naturally the gains would be kept low

pentoncm

JoshParsons84 wrote: »

Dunno bout active..get it all hooked up then go from there. In continuation with my goal. Been thinking...would it be possible to hook my Boston GT 2125 (125 x 2) to mids only and then hook a Boston GT 275 (75 x 2) to tweets? Then of course the the GT 2300 into a mono for 1,400 going to the SPG? If so would that be too much power? What would the SQ be like? Naturally the gains would be kept low

Yes you could hook up a separate amp for mids and tweeters. You can never have too much power, just don't turn it up all the way. If you think of an amp/speaker combo, don't think of a light bulb and a light switch. Its more like a light bulb with a dimmer switch, just don't turn it up all the way and you will be fine.

While your components can be bi amped, it will sound better by going active off of the pioneer 80 deck.